India attempting defence co-production with US: PM

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Tuesday India was trying to move away from "the buyer-seller relationship" to one based on co-production and co-research with the US in the defence sector.

Answering queries from mediaperson on his way back home from a visit to the US, the prime minister said the discussions between the two countries in defence cooperation were a step forward.

"Well in the area of defence cooperation we are trying to move away from the buyer-seller relationship to a relationship based on co-production, based on co-research and the outcome of the deliberations on defence cooperation is in line with our own thinking," the prime minister said.

He said India will also like foreign direct investment of 26 percent to come into the defence production sector.

"We would like our own domestic industry to get involved in domestic production. We would also like FDI to extent of 26 percent to come into defence production. So, I think this is a step forward," the prime minister said.